BropolloCreed79

Because I should be able to name my character "Prof. Plops Maghee" if I want.

You are overthinking this: That's how it's done.

Ostensibly, if they did anything other than roll back progress, they'd have to refund either gold or the funds used to purchase the gold, especially if any purchased items are level-locked. My opposition isn't to the store. In fact, I'd argue that they had to release the store now, in beta, just to make sure transactions worked as intended--hence all the free gold they've been giving away. They WANT people to test the system and see how everything works. The issue I have with all of this is making gold available for purchase during the beta. If they have to reset or rollback anything at all, it's going to cause massive headaches. I'd urge anyone who isn't firmly behind RDO, especially in it's current iteration (for whatever reason) to hold off on purchasing gold until the game goes "live", and you know exactly what the experience you're buying into will entail. This is a beta, and a LOT can change between now and whenever the final product is released.

Is it asking too much to play the game with friends? If I want to place someone on some train tracks and have some fun, there's no shortage of Lemyone, O'Driscoll, or Murfee boys to abscond away with for such a purpose. Hell, I drop them off train bridges for fun in single player all the time. But corpse stacking goes a lot quicker if there's someone to help. Like the old saying goes, "many hands make light work"

It does if the sheeple throw money at it, even in this beta state, with no regard as to when RDO goes "gold" or "live". Plenty of folks with no concern about tossing money at the game will have zero qualms about buying gold now, despite the lack of definitive, declarative statements about progress being maintained. Personally, they won't see a dime from me. The current game isn't a finished product, and as such, I am unable to make an informed decision as to how to spend my money, and whether or not I"ll choose to continue to play RDO. It's close, but not where it needs to be to hold my interest. Investing now by purchasing gold is a fool's errand, imo: without knowing how things will end up when the final product is rolled out, I can't be assured my investment will be worth the effort. If I buy gold now to dress my character in the most resplendent finery from the local haberdashery, only to find RDO to be a lawless frontier littered with flying locomotives, and bored trust fund babies outfit with the latest and greatest items, then I'll never feel the urge to play online just to be griefed/trolled into oblivion, no matter how well I rock those overalls.

More importantly, it serves as confirmation that progress will be retained at the end of Beta. It's going to be difficult to explain how they can "sell" gold during the beta, only to have purchases rolled back or deleted later on. Sure, your progress may be reset, but anything purchased with Gold will undoubtedly be tied to the account, not the character.

I have several DLC for that title, including: Codependent Alcoholism Sarcasm Gourmet Baker Competitive Drive

Going to have to disagree with you on that one. Online services are subject to Terms of Service. Gaming companies and developers employ armies of attorneys, both in-house and outside counsel to protect the company from risk exposure and lawsuits. A common form of protection has been a trend away from calling an online experience a "game" and defining it as a "service". When you read the terms and conditions that usually get glossed over, part of the ToS is that you don't actually own the game, you're paying an access fee, or license, to use the content/service. There are arbitration clauses embedded into most of these agreements that people agree to when they select "I agree" prior to playing. Guess who gets to pick the arbitrator? (hint: it's not the customer). Even if a claim against a company has merit (although when it comes to these things, 99% of claims do not), you're still looking at an arbitration process that will result in finding of no fault against the company and a paltry reward (if any). Now, you're saddled with extensive legal fees, which you won't be able to repay, since the arbitration clause probably prohibits the recovery of attorney's fees (meanwhile, in-house counsel or outside counsel on retainer speaks on behalf of the gaming company, costing them almost nothing by compairson). And even if somehow, by some MIRACLE you are able to get a gaming company into court, they will throw MILLIONS of dollars into the case to win. Why? Because it sets precedent. If one claimant prevails, it opens the floodgates for similar claims. Hell, a smart attorney acting on behalf of the claimant would probably seek class status at the onset on behalf of all players similarly situated (it may or may not help the client, but it WILL significantly increase the firm's payout), and at that point you're looking at at least five to ten years of litigation, appeals, attorney's fees, subpoenas, discovery, motions.... At worst, the company may run afoul of some sort of regulatory body possibly paying a fine, but in terms of legal ramifications for not banning players? I have a better shot of beating LeBron James in a game of one-on-one.

I tried fishing near a legendary spawn with a like last night for almost an hour. It's terrible. If I wanted to play a fishing simulator, I'd play a fishing simulator. They make it unintuitively difficult and the tooltips are worthless.

This is how I handle those folks:

Said every married person, EVER.

laugh all you want, but plenty of people are allergic to Nightshades--I' have a rough go of it if that were the case for me. Love my peppers. Luckily, I'm just allergic to raw tomatoes (something about the amount of acid in them messes me up pretty good).

Work smarter, not harder.

I'm not the only one who just shoots the fish, right?

I'm right at 50%, but have limited opportunities as the moment. Once things settle down in a few weeks, I'll get back into it, but for now, I'm just making my way through items on the completion checklist and knocking out challenges (really starting to hate cardinals).

Or, you could take your time and stay on Chapter 3.

The Lemyone boys I routinely dispatch are carrying the stuff in spades. In fact, I will gladly roam Lemyone looking for smokestacks just on the chance I'll get to take out a rival gang of goobers and loot them for dynamite. I've also been known to drive a carriage into their camps for fun.

Guns? GUNS?!?! Guns are for people who want to abuse Dead Eye. For an experience that's more fun and rewarding, I recommend DYNAMITE!

See, THAT'S how it's supposed to be. I'll probably take another stab at it tonight, and then whatever I end up with is what I'll keep going forward.

I'm sure it's fine. Unlike mine, who look like they stepped off a boat from the island of Dr. Moreau. I've spent more time in the character creator than I have actually playing RDO at this point.

The biggest thing will be dynamite arrows. I mean, if you're going to do something, do it RIGHT.

I have to admit, I haven't played much of the online yet (trying to make John Matrix and ending up with Ted Cruz for an online character does a lot to dissuade one from playing), but when I do, I'm going to find it difficult to not indiscriminately ambush folks "just because". It's already happening when I play solo: if another rider on the road has a hat I like, I shoot him in the face and take it.

I recon they're either using a lag switch or the "standby" button on the modem/router. It's an old trick used by players of questionable skill or ethics to gain the upper hand in online game play, especially in shooters. Sadly, there's very little R* can do to prevent this from happening, because it's an action taken by the player to interrupt the flow of data between the console and the Internet, and not specific to the game itself.

R* Business Model for RDR2: Phase One: Allow Griefing Phase Two: ? Phase Three: Profit! And for our younger readers, here's the reference: